ZD's NeverEnding DC story
by ZephyrDrake
Summary: In the dragon caves, human tenders work alongside their dragons in everyday life and extrodanary challenges. This is the story of one tender, her clan of dragons, and their never-ending fight for survival. Based on
1. Chapter 1: Miracle Birth

Dragon cave is copyright TJ. These dragons are all on my scroll (besides a few).

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><p><strong>ZD's Never-ending DC Story<strong>

**Chapter 1**

**Miracle Birth**

Pulling his coat closer, a lonely farmer shepherded his flock into his barn, out of the storm. The weather in these parts was bad, very bad, but the wide open pastures and woods had attracted his ancestors generations ago.

He looked up at a dim flickering light in the sky. Well, it wasn't actually in the sky, it was on the mountain, but in the dark stormy night, it looked as if it were floating. He watched it flicker a few times, then go out.

He shook his head. He would have to organise a group of men to go there now. The light had come from a cave, which had once been the home to a group of dragons and their tender. But the Tender had died years ago, and the dragons had returned to the place their ancestors came from, the dragon realm. The dragons had made the fields fertile with their dung, so had been very welcome residents to the small farming community. They had asked for a new tender to be sent there, and the young girl who was sent had only 4 eggs and not a single adult dragon.

That had been weeks ago. Since then, the girl had returned to the dragon realm twice, and returned with new eggs. But not a single dragon was seen. Now that the girls fire had gone out, the farmer feared she would not last the night.

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><p>High in the mountains, the girl was sitting besides her makeshift nest, hiding from the biting wind and cold. She had used most of her clothes to shield her last egg from the wind, but now she was freezing, with only a light shirt, pants and a thin jumper. And to top it all off, he fire had gone out.<p>

She looked over the dark cave floor, lit only by the broken moonlight and flashes of lightning. Eggshells littered the floor, yet not a single dragon was around. She had failed to hatch over 10 eggs, and was becoming desperate. The dragons who had lived her prior to her had sealed off the entrance to the rest of the cave, so she was left with only the entrance cavern, which had no places to hide from the cold. The rest of the cave was probably warmer, but it would take several fully grown dragons to break through.

She looked back up at the last egg in her nest. It was only small, and smelled sweetly of mint. She reached up and took the egg down, and the clothing with it. Cradling her last piece of hope to her chest, and covering herself and the egg in the clothing, she fell asleep.

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><p>Climbing the mountain in the morning, a group of 7 farmers and the community's only nurse breathed in the fresh, brisk air. It was a good climb to the cave, but the clean, fresh air felt good. It was such a pity they would probably have to walk back with a corpse.<p>

As the group reached the cave mouth, they lit torches and prepared the stretcher to carry the girl back. They entered the cave with a sombre mood. It was not well lit, but that probably wouldn't have mattered to a tender, as they pick up abilities from their dragons as they spend more time with them.

They spread out and started to search for the girl.

"I've found the fire!" One of the younger farmers pointed to a pile of black wood and ashes on the floor. "She's got to be near here..."

The farmer spotted a pile of loose clothing on the floor beside what appeared to be a makeshift nest. He signalled to the others to come look. As they stood around, the nurse lifted a torn jacket from the top, to reveal a pale, dead looking girl. All the men looked to their feet in sorrow. It would be a long time before they sent another tender to raise the dragons that would fertilise their crops.

The nurse put her hand to the girls neck, and jumped back in surprise. "She has a pulse!"

The men all looked up and smiled. "Quick! Make a new fire and everyone put your jumpers over her!"

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><p>The girl woke to the smell of cooking, and half opened a single eye to see who was there. She saw people hurriedly rushing around, and a man who appeared to be cooking at the fire that had gone out the night before. She groaned, and all the heads turned to her.<p>

"Your awake lass!" A middle aged man rushed over to her, followed closely by a young woman.

"We thought you'd never wake up!"

The girl stared at them. "Who are you?" The lady smiled. "We are from the farming community just down the mountain, we saw your fire go out last night, and feared the worst. Good thing we came, you were almost dead when we got here."

"By the way lass, what's your name?" The girl looked up weakly "Zephyr, my name is Zephyr."

Suddenly she felt movement on her chest and ripped the pile of clothing off. The small creamy green egg had a huge hole in it, and a small green snout was poking out.

"Its hatching!" All the farmers gathered around quickly to see.

As Zephyr watched and cooed to the egg, the hatchling within slowly pushed the shell away, and another egg shell was added to the floor. But this time, a hatchling was curled up in its place.

Zephyr smiled and cried as she hugged the small creature to her chest. "Your finally here!"

The farmers and the nurse all looked at the cute little creature in awe.

"I've never seen a baby Dragon, this little one is only the size of a Rabbit!" Quiet comments stated to become loud and the small creature squealed. "Shhhhs baby, its ok" Zephyr cooed to the little one.

"I think we had best leave" The nurse motioned to the others to go. "The worst of the weather for the season should be over now, but don't hesitate to come down if you need anything."

Zephyr nodded, and the nurse left with the farmers.

Zephyr cuddled up with the little hatchling, smelling its scent of sweet mint, and sighed. She was officially a Tender.

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><p>I hope everyone likes the first chapter.<p> 


	2. Chapter 2: Naming Day

Dragon cave is copyright TJ.

**Chapter 2**

**Naming Day**

Looking around the all too familiar route, Zephyr smiled. "You know little one, some day you will be able to HELP me pull our food up the hill..." A little mint dragon, about the size of a collie dog, scoffed.

_**I dont think so, that cart is five times my size!**_ The cheeky mint trotted ahead on her short legs. _**Besides, Im much better at being lookout**_

Zephyr sighed. "But there was a mint in the town that I grew up in that was bigger than a horse..." The mint looked back _**Well, clearly not a relative of mine!**_

It had been 2 months since the mint had hatched, and she was not growing as fast as Zephyr had expected, she could not even tell what her gender was yet.

Several hours later, a worn out and puffed Zephyr dragged the cart laden with their food and supplies into the cave, and hid them in the back.

Walking to the makeshift bed she had made, Zephyr collapsed, grateful to have a place to rest.

The mint trotted over. _**When can we have dinner?**_ Zephyr looked at the little mint. "Cant you eat a few berries from outside as a snack then wait till I'm not exhausted from pulling a cart up the mountain?"

The mint sighed _**I guess so**_. She started for the cave entrance _**But i still don't understand why we have to live up here. Town is so much nicer.**_

With that, the little mint trotted out to have a snack.

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><p>Waking the next morning with the mint hatchling on her chest, Zephyr felt weird. She suddenly realised why. Looking at the mint, she noticed that she had not only had an over night growth spurt, but her horns were also longer.<p>

Tentatively, she placed a hand on the hatchling's back, and allowed their essences to commingle.

A smile quickly spread over her face. "Wake up sweetie, look at yourself". The hatchling woke and blinked its eyes a few times. _**Why? Have I changed colour or something?**_

Zephyr giggled. "No, but you have gone through your maturation, your almost fully grown... and you are female".

The hatchling blinked again, then tentatively touched her head, feeling her larger horns. Only then did she notice that she was half as big again as she had been that night, and was squashing her tender.

_**I am female... does that mean I can be named?**_ Zephyr smiled at her mint. "Yes, it does!"

The mint rolled off her tender and laid on her back, looking at Zephyr questioningly. **_So... what will my name be?_**

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><p>Zephyr spent the rest of the day trying to decide on a name. She had even commingled with the little mint again, looking through her parentage, to find a family name. She had discovered that she was the granddaughter of a clan "Chief", that her father was a Vine, and that she had Silver's in her line. But no names. Eventually, she started to combine catchy bits of all the names. And soon after, had narrowed the list to two possible names.<p>

"Little one, I think I have a name for you." The mint lifted her head and waddled over. Zephyr giggled, now that she had grown, the mint was unable to move as fast as she once had.

_**Well?**_ The mint, who was now almost her minimum full size, looked up expectantly.

"Well, I have two possible names. Fairteth or Rooreth. Do you like either of them?"

The mint cocked her head to think. _**Well, Fairteth sounds like 'Fair Teeth', but my teeth are tiny and round. But Rooreth doesn't sound too bad.**_

Zephyr smiled "Rooreth it is then!" She knelt down to hug Rooreth. "You are almost fully grown, soon I will need to go and find more eggs, and hopefully raise one as a mate for you!"

Rooreth looked shocked, then made a mock sick face. _**Yuck! Boy germs!**_

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><p>Yey, chapter 2.<p>

Yeah, I already had these written up (7 chapters), thats why they are coming up in quick sucsession.

If anyone recognises them, its fron Dragon Breeders Cave, Ive been posting them there too.


	3. Chapter 3: Hunting Instincts

Dragon cave is copyright TJ.

**Chapter 3**

**Hunting Instincts**

Sliding saliently through the cold dark corridors, Zephyr silently stalked her prey. Only it was not the giants just feet away through solid rock walls that she was hunting... it was their eggs. She passed through an intersection in the tiny, cramped tunnels, passing another pair of Tenders. They all nodded, and passed single file into the correct tunnel. Another tender, clutching a light brown and blue egg, passed them from the exit tunnel.

Slowly the tunnel became wider, as more tunnels began to connect, until they started opening at the sides, small entrances barely big enough for most of them. The first several, which had been manually widened by hundreds of tenders over time, led into a giant cavern, filled with a collection of miss-matched eggs, hatchlings and shells. It was the Abandoned Cave, and within were eggs and hatchlings that would not be raised by their mothers, for one reason or another.

Further down were other caverns, but they were filled with sleeping dragons and their hoards. On the occasion that the eggs in these caves were far enough away to be taken without the parents notice, tenders would sneak in and try to steal them. Sometimes, such as when rare eggs were available, silent bickering would occur between the tenders as to who should be the owner of such eggs. But if they caused too much noise, the parents might wake, which has resulted in the death or maiming of many a tender.

Zephyr did not have the experience necessary to find eggs in caves still patrolled by parent dragons, so instead slipped into the Abandoned Cavern.

Frightened and full of adrenalin, Zephyr silently walked between the eggs, trying to avoid the eggshells. Her head turned sharply as she heard a shrill cry from her right. Another tender had just found a frightened, lonely and starving black hatchling amongst the eggs, its glowing green eyes full of fear. She watched as the tender offered the hatchling food, and as it eagerly ate, commingled with it, then went back to her search.

Not knowing what she was looking for, or even what was in most of the eggs, she simply allowed her consciousness to extend over the eggs, to see which willed her to it. They all cried out, begging for a home, for a family, to be loved. But she could not possibly take them all.

_**Pick me, pick me, help me, I am here... **_Zephyr could hear the unborn hatchlings calling to her. It was heartbreaking. Then she found an egg that was silent. An elongated egg, as long as her arm, yet very light, that was completely covered in dust and dirt, would not respond to her mental presence. It was alive, but had given up hope. Without someone to care for it, even if it did hatch, it was highly unlikely it would survive. So it had given up the will to live.

Suddenly, Zephyr heard a shrilled, angry roar coming from the largest, dragon sized entrance. A huge wild black dragon, its eyes glowing an angry green, speckled with red, had noticed the tenders. The dragons did not care if these eggs died or not, but DID care that they were not stolen. Other tenders ran for the exits, some dropping their eggs, others still cradling their prizes. Zephyr summed up her options. This egg was big, but not heavy. So she grabbed the filthy egg, and ran.

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><p>Finally finding her way out of the cramped maze, Zephyr came to the final cavern in the Dragon Caves, the one that could take her home. As she walked slowly towards the exit, she observed other Tenders with eggs and hatchlings, some even comparing their catches, or trading. She pulled her egg into her jumper, party to keep it warm, partly to hide its dirty shell from judgemental eyes.<p>

Finally reaching the teleportation rooms, she stood in the line of tenders waiting to go home. Each booth was run by a Magi, who's owners was part of the top Tenders to have ever existed. Tenders simply requested where they wished to go, and the Magi's teleported them there.

Reaching the front of the line, Zephyr walked into the booth, and gave the old, bronzing Magi a mental image of where she needed to go, and a polite thank you. The Magi's eyes quickly glowed, changing from green to violet, and Zephyr was gone.

Falling into the soft bale of hay in the town square, Zephyr looked around, disoriented. She was where she needed to be, but the experience never got any easier. The Magi on this side, a young, lazy magi, hardly raised an eyelid at her arrival. His job was to transport people out, not see who came back. Of course, his location was where anyone incoming was sent to, so he was the first thing most people coming into the dimension saw.

Zephyr got up an brushed herself off, then panicked. "MY EGG!" The magi lifted a lazy eyelid again, and pointed his elegant tail at the pile of hay. Zephyr sighed as she spotted her egg in the hay. "Oh egg... you had me so worried!"

She picked up the egg, and brushed off the strands of hay clinging to its dirty surface. At the same time, she brushed clan a small spot on the egg, reviling a striking blue and white pattern.

_**Did you find an egg Zephyr?**_ Zephyr turned her head, spotting Rooreth approaching, the small dragons size apparently amusing both the lazy Magi and the townsfolk.

"Yes Rooreth, now, shall we go back home yet?" Rooreth looked up into the sky.

_**It is too late, it will be dawn by the time we get there if we leave now...**_

Zephyr stopped to think for a moment. "What if we slept here, then I could return to DC in the morning, and we would still have time to return home?"

Rooreth turned her head. _**That would work, it is a warm night tonight.**_

"Then it is settled, we will sleep out here, with the Magi" Zephyr smiled, "You wouldn't mind that, would you Mr. Magi?" The magi snorted. _**I am Todock, not "Mr. Magi"**_ And turned his head away, ignoring the annoying tender.

"I'll take that as an ok!"Zephyr and Rooreth curled up a few feet from the Magi, and were soon dozing, the egg kept protected between Rooreth's forelegs.

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><p>Early next morning, Zephyr woke, ready for a second egg hunting trip. She commingled with Rooreth and the egg, giving both loving thoughts, assuring them she would be back soon, before asking Todock to transport her. She thankfully arrived in one piece, and the cave appeared to be quite deserted, only 20 or so others were in the entrance cavern instead of hundreds.<p>

Slipping Quietly into the cave system with the others, Zephyr began her hunt. Just as the day before, she made her way to the Abandoned Cavern. Looking over the eggs in the dull light, she started her serch. You could clearly see the broken, shattered shells of the eggs that had been in the angry black's way the day before, the poor baby dragons dead bodies lying stiff on the floor. At least the surviving hatchlings would have something to eat.

Silently making her way into the cavern, Zephyr tip toed around the eggs, trying not to harm any. Many of the eggs were long dead anyway, but the sound of the eggshells breaking could bring the attention of another cranky adult dragon. Why they didn't just keep these eggs, she would never understand. Sure, some had been abandoned here by other tenders in the hope that someone would be able to give them a home, but others were simply too small or something for the parents tastes, and they were dumped here.

Zephyr crouched behind a large egg, far to large to move even if it had not already been dead, and spread her mind over the other eggs again. The flood of pleas hit her, and she struggled not to cry. It was against the laws of the Dragon Tender to keep more eggs that you were aloud to, and her limit was four. She tried to send calming thoughts to the poor unhatched dragons, but their panic was too much to be calmed.

Although all she wanted to do was take the nearest egg and love it, she knew she needed to be picky. Her clan needed strong elders, dragons who could hunt for and protect the clan. There was a lake full of fish not too far from the caves she lived in, so Zephyr thought a dragon that could fish would be helpful. And one who could protect her.

She searched the minds of the pleading babies, looking for the ones with the "right stuff". It was hard to say exactly what she wanted, or even how she was going to find it, but eventually she did. Two eggs stood out from the rest.

The first was a small round blue egg not a few feet from Zephyr's hiding place, but the other was a grey egg, or at least it looked grey, that was near the entrance to the main dragon caves. She could sense something about them, something that called her too them. They were destined to be hers, and she theirs, but first she needed to get to them.

The blue egg was easiest. Zephyr had quickly shuffled out, staying low, snatched up the egg, and dashed back. It was only after that she realised that the round egg was leaking water. She checked it for holes, but there was none. The egg almost seemed to be sweating, trying to keep itself moist. Zephyr grabbed a larger half shell and placed the egg into it, allowing its water to collect in a small pool.

She then locked her eyes onto the other egg. It would take a good couple of minutes to get there silently, but she would be very exposed. Taking a deep breath, she stepped out and began to make her way to the entrance.

Other tenders looked at her like she had a death wish. She was just out of reach of the egg, and if an adult came in to check now, she would be lunch. She looked out of the cave mouth, and could see shadows of adult dragons dancing on the walls. Some dragons kept their eggs warm with fire, so their dens always had a fire in it, casting shadows, and even though it was beautiful, it made the risk all too real.

She reached down and grabbed the egg. The egg itself was small and rather light, but sorounded by a cloud of fog that had made it seem bigger. As she clutched it to her chest, the fog from the egg flowed down her like a slow motion waterfall, covering her as well as the ground in a thick smog. Although the hatchling within the egg wanted to go with her, the egg's natural reaction to being moved was to create this cloud, thus making it too difficult for the egg thief to steal it.

But in this case, Zephyr was moving the egg. She cringed as she tried to step forward and her toe hit an egg. She began walking towards the wall with her feet shuffling. She was almost at the wall, where she could hide in the shadows, when she did it. She lifted her foot to walk normally, and it came down on a piece of shell. The sound of crushing eggshell echoed though the cavern, and all the tenders became dead silent.

Zephyr went white as she watched the other tenders back out of the cavern, and heard the sound of claws on the cave floor coming towards her. She pushed herself against the wall and hugged the egg tight.

A small brown and red dragon walked into the cavern. Its head bobbed up and down like a birds as it scanned the cave for threats. Zephyr almost started to cry as it looked strait at her. Its beady yellow eyes inched closer to her, but for some reason it did not attack. Instead, it huffed, and simply walked out.

Zephyr slowly inched along the wall till she was in the shadows, before letting out the breath she had been holding in. She was about to start wondering why the dragon had not tried to eat her for stealing the grey egg, when she noticed the another tender looking at her strangely.

"What?" The other tender leaned forward and whispered "It couldn't see you because of the fog, that egg just saved you".

Zephyr smiled and thanked the other tender, before slowly making her way to her original hiding place.

Taking the shell containing the blue egg, and wrapping the grey egg up to contain its fog, Zephyr left the cavern. As she finally approached the teleportation Magi's, she noticed another tender pop into existence carrying a crate full of eggs, and cursing to herself.

"What's the matter" Zephyr looked at the continence of the crate. She could see several types of green eggs, some black eggs, and from the look of all the fog flowing from the crate, at least one of the grey eggs was inside as well.

"Oh, nothing, just that all my Gold dragons, who have been either Gravid for the last several months, or who's mates have been, all clutched over the last few days, and ALL the eggs were common."

Zephyr stared at her. "Are these all of them?"

The tender looked impatiently at her. "Of course, WHY would I keep the common eggs of a Metallic pairing?"

"Well, wouldn't it make the dragons happy? To raise children of their own?"

"Why should I care? They are my dragons, I'll do as I please."

Zephyr looked sadly at the crate of eggs. "Would I be able to raise one?"

The tender looked at the crate and laughed "I don't care WHO raises them, so long as its not me."

Zephyr rushed over to the crate as the tender tapped her foot "Just hurry, I DONT have all day N00b."

Looking over the eggs, Zephyr prodded each's minds with her own. Each was only newborn, having no idea they were about to be abandoned. She picked up a small foggy egg, like the one she already had. She could feel each was different, but at the same time were the same.

"I'll take this one." She smiled and stepped back from the annoyed older tender.

"A crappy grey? Well, that one is the child of Lord Gray Rat's Tail and Lady Golden Monkey. Yet to give me a single Gold egg, those two. If they don't soon I might just separate them. Waste of a good Gold, breeding it to a Grey. Heard it ruins their shine too, their babies are duller than usual, or at least the gold ones are. Now leave me be."

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><p>Zephyr landed back in her own dimension clutching three eggs. One egg seemed to cry, while the other two hid themselves in fog. Getting up from the hay, she nodded to Todock and winced. "Thanks, but I might ask if they can refill the hay, I landed pretty hard.<p>

The magi stretched in a very cat like manner, before flopping onto his side.

_**T'is not my problem.**_

_**Have you brought us more friends?**_ Rooreth was laying down not far from Todock, on a sunny rock. _**I would very much like to have someone to talk to, as this lazy magi is no fun at all.**_

"Yes Rooreth, I have three eggs. Shall we go home now?" The mint nodded _**But could we eat first?**_ Zephyr giggled and gave her a pat on the head "Yes Roo, we can."

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><p>Hope you like this chapter ^^<p> 


	4. Chapter 4: Newcomers

Dragon cave is copyright TJ.

**Chapter 4**

**Newcomers**

Zephyr woke as she was kneed in the back by a large, well, knee. She glanced backward at the large green mass that owned the offending knee, and shuffled over to avoid it. Rooreth felt her shuffle, and grunted, quickly going back to sleep.

Zephyr peeked over Rooreth, out the cave mouth. It was still dark outside, and even in summer, still cold. She snuggled into her blanket, and felt a warm lump on her lap move and heard it wine.

She smiled as the hatchling settled again, its dark snout poking out of the blanket. She reached up to check that the other hatchling was still around her neck, and felt the soft velvety scales of the tiny snake-like hatchling. She sighed, and went back to sleep.

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><p>By morning, Zephyr had woken up properly. She had taken Rooreth and the grey hatchling out to forage for food, while the small blue snakelike hatchling was more interested in staying within the cave.<p>

By midday, Rooreth had eaten at least half her weight in foraged plants, and the hatchling had caught and eaten several small winged rat-like creatures.

As they approaches home, Zephyr saw the tail of the small blue hatchling poking out the top of her bag.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Jogging up to the bag, she opened it. Inside, the little hatchling was happily helping itself to... her necklace? "No! That's not edible!" Zephyr tried to reach for the silver chain, but it was too late. The hatchling swallowed it whole. "No, what am I going to do if you get sick?"

She gently picked up the noticeably heaver hatchling. "You haven't eaten all the jewellery my family gave me, did you?" The hatchling chirped happily. Coiling it around her neck, Zephyr began to rummage around her bag. Everything was gone. "No..."

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><p>Rooreth watched as Zephyr grumpily prepared food for the young hatchlings. She wondered why her Tender placed such high value on trinkets. The ores were common in the dimensions, many dragons ate them to strengthen their scales. She could see the slightly silvery blemishes under the eyes of the hatchling already.<p>

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><p>Zephyr sat opposite the nest as she ate, staring at the two remaining eggs. The older blue egg had a hole in it, but seemed to want to stay within its familiar shell a little longer. The other, another grey, was taking its sweet time.<p>

Having placed the blue egg in her biggest bowl to keep its water contained, she was beginning to worry about how she would raise it. There was no pool in the cave, and it seemed a little cruel to make it live in the lake on its own.

"What should I do Rooreth?"

_**Well, I think you should let it choose itself. And I have walked all the way around that lake, there is a small cave behind the waterfall. We could move there till its grown.**_

Zephyr smiled at her friend "Thanks Roo". She felt a shiver go down her spine as the small snakelike hatchling launched itself from its perch on the wall to her back. It couldn't fly yet, but its stumpy wings already let it glide.

_**Why not keep our new friend in a bowl like it is now? I've seen it swim out if its egg, then back in. It says its a little scared.**_

Zephyr looked back up at the egg. "Why is it scared? Have you asked it?"

_**No, but I can if you want me to.**_

Zephyr smiled. Since eating her family's jewellery, the hatchling had been doing everything it could to make up for it.

The little snakelike hatchling launched itself off Zephyr's shoulder, landing on the edge of the nest, and hauling itself up. The little dear was determined. It always refused aid in its jumping and gliding stunts. Zephyr watched as the hatchling stood on the edge of the bowl, and dunked its head into the water.

After having its head dunked for several minutes, Zephyr began to worry. Just as she was about to intervene, the hatchlings wet head sprung up.

_**The Swimmer said it is scared because her puddle is so small. It said it would come out if it had a bigger one it could swim in**_

"Can you tell it that we can take it to a large lake if it wants?" The hatchling nodded, and again plunged its head into the water. After a few minutes, it resurfaced.

_**It said ok. But please don't drop it on the way.**_

Zephyr giggled, and stared packing up to leave.

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><p>Lugging the final box of things to the waterfall, Rooreth and Zephyr sighed. It was only a temporary home, till the little water dragon grew up. Zephyr walked to the back of the cart, and threw over the waterproof tarp that came with it. They had spent two days moving everything, with the eggs and hatchies being the first things to get moved. The two hatchies had watched over the eggs and played in the puddles near the back of the cave while Rooreth and she had been lugging carts full of things down the mountain and carefully guiding it along the slippery path that went though the waterfall.<p>

With the last load now tightly covered and ready to go, Zephyr signalled to Rooreth to start pulling. Straining into the makeshift harness, Rooreth slowly inched the cart forwards, as Zephyr guided the back end to stay on the wet path. By the time they got through, both were thoroughly soaked.

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><p>After drying off and unloading the cart, Zephyr set about making a fire. Using shreds of ruined clothing to light slightly damp wood, she eventually got it going. Sitting back as the fire cooked roots and small mammals they had found and caught, with the two eggs in a nest of rags and twigs (and a bowl in the case of the water egg), Rooreth laying behind her, and the two hatchlings cuddled up to her, Zephyr wondered why anyone would want to live any other way.<p>

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><p>The next morning, Zephyr was woken by the grey hatchling pouncing on her.<p>

_**Zephy! The hatchling is coming out!**_ Zephyr looked up to see the small snakelike hatchling atop the bowl rim again, with its head in the water.

Throwing off her rugs and quickly standing up, she rushed over to the nest, just in time to see the small eel-like hatchling fully leave its shell. She gently removed the shell from the bowl. The hatchling looked up at her from beneath the slightly opaque water, and she offered a hand just above the surface. The little one timidly raised its nose to the top of the water, hesitated, then raised it above the liquid and touched her hand.

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><p>Taking the hatchling's bowl to the shallow pools within the cave, Zephyr hesitated for a moment as she lowered the bowl. What if there was a predator in the water? What if the water was to cold. But as she was about to ask the hatchling if this was really what it wanted, it squealed and threw itself out of the bowl, landing happily in the water.<p>

"Are you ok? Is it to cold?" Zephyr panicked. But the hatchling simply splashed in the water happily.

_**The water is nice, you should come fro a swim! But first, I am hungry... do you have a Feesh?**_

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><p>*Note: Skywings do eat metal, according to the spriter, they do it to strengthen their belly scales.<p>

Hope you like the chapter.


	5. Chapter 5: Summer Sun

Dragon cave is copyright TJ.

**Chapter 5**

**Summer Sun**

Walking along the rocky shoreline of the lake, Bucket of scraps and a reel of line in hand, Zephyr started Humming to herself. The two hatchlings following her, the little grey and the little blue snake like one, were playing. The now several weeks old water hatchling had grown into a very good swimmer, and could catch small fish itself now, but the larger fish Zephyr was trying to catch would be scared off by her presence. So she had asked the little one to help Rooreth watch the eggs. Yes, eggS.

When the water had hatched, Zephyr had only one egg left, and three hatchlings, so she was able to take on more, both from a legal standpoint (The tenders counsel forbade having too many eggs at once) and from her gut feeling. So she had gone to the cave, and returned with a shiny red egg that was quite hot to the touch, and an orange egg with a magical aura around it. And a week later, she had gone back and returned with an egg that glowed like a small sun on one side, but was coloured like a sunset on the other. She couldn't wait to see what they were holding.

Once she had reached her destination, a large rock half in and half out of the water, she climbed up and set herself down. This rock allowed her to cast her hand line out into the deeper water without needing to get wet. But naturally, the hatchlings thought this was cheating. After they had gotten thoroughly soaked, they climbed up onto the rock with her, and made sure she got wet too.

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><p>After several hours, the hatchlings had grown tired, and took their places at Zephyr's side and neck to sunbathe. Zephyr had caught several fish by that time, as well as plenty of water plants that had caught on her line, that she could feed to Rooreth.<p>

She absent-mindedly started stroking the grey hatchling at her side. When it had hatched, it was the side of a large, long puppy. Now it was around the size of a full grown dog, and still growing. The horns on its head had grown from mere stubs to solid horns, the longest pair were at least 3 inches long, if not 4 inches, already.

Then she felt it. High on its shoulder, still under the scales, she felt the bump. Feeling it over with her hand, she could already feel what would grow into the largest two bones in the wing, encased in muscle beneath the skin.

Zephyr grinned. Her hatchling was growing its wings! That meant, soon, it would be far easier to get around, to get more eggs, to find food, ext. And soon, she would know what its gender would be!

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><p>That night, as they huddled round the fire, Zephyr could see the hatchlings wing bumps. They grew in almost alarmingly fast, from what she read, so within a week, it should have a full set of (small) wings! AND its gender will be identifiable! The hatchling though, seemed oblivious, as it happily ate the eel it managed to catch at the lake on its own.<p>

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><p>(1 week later)<p>

Examining the young Greys small wings, Zephyr could hardly believe how much he had grown in just a week. Now the size of a small pony at the shoulder, and a little bit longer, the hatchling was loosing its hatchling cuteness and gaining the sleek adult look.

There was just one problem...

"So... are you male... or female?"

The hatchling looked at her strangely, and then at itself.

_**I am not sure... I am changing, and I have nobody to compare myself to yet...**_

Zephyr hung her head. She was not quite brave enough to go and... 'check'... yet. She had sexed kittens before, but for a dragon... well, a dragon is as smart or smarter than a human... so it just felt weird.

Although it was possible to tell the gender of a hatchling by commingling, Zephyr couldn't with this one yet. Apparently, unless they had experience with hatchlings of both genders, and plenty of experience, a Tender could not tell the gender of a hatchling that did not know itself.

"What do you think Rooreth?"

The mint lifted her head up. She had been in deep conversation with the almost hatched grey egg, apparently.

_**I have only ever met one male Dragon, and that Lazy Magi can hardly be counted as such, and I have never met another female. So I am not sure, sorry Zeph.**_

"Its ok. We'll just have to wait I guess."

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><p>After only two days, They knew the gender of all the hatchlings. The grey had come to the conclusion that it was male, the water's fins grew into the shape of a female's fins, and the snakelike hatchling, who Zephyr had Identified as a Skywing, told her that she was female.<p>

Watching over the hatchlings as they tried to coax out the new grey from its egg, she tried to think of names for them. After thinking for a while, she came up with a few names.

"Dears, I've decided that today you are getting names."

The hatchlings all looked strait up. The water actually came out of the water, slithering over the stone floor like a snake, to be closer.

"Little water. I would like to call you 'Echo Monsoon'. Every time I approach the waterfall cave, I can hear your calls echo over the sound of the running water. A monsoon is what a wet season is called. You were my first ever water dragon, and I hope to get many more. So, would you like that name?"

The hatchling thought for a few seconds.

_**I am a dragon of water, and as a monsoon a powerful watery part of the world, it would be an honour to have it in my name. I enjoy making my voice bounce off things, making it seem as I am somewhere else. I love the name, I will take it.**_

Zephyr reached out and stroked Echo's head. "I am glad you like it. Now go back into the water, your scales are getting dry" Echo began making her way back to the shallow water, which was rapidly becoming to small for her.

"My little living neck warmer" The skywing chirped up, propping itself up with its forwings to look bigger.

"I had a friend, back where I came from, who loved her freedom and to travel, but would always come back to us. When several of us became Tenders, we promised that we would all meet again some day. I have researched your breed, and it is said that your kind love freedom, and fly vast distances just for fun. I would like to give you the name of my friend, and another word that may confuse you. I would like to call you Alexis Omega."

The hatchling had a look of confusion on its face.

_**An omega is the lowest ranked of anything, why give me that name?**_

Zephyr chuckled. "Well, Omega may mean that, but only because it is the last letter in a very ancient alphabet. The same letter also means 'great O'. So although others may question it, know that there is pride in the name."

The skywing nodded. _**Then I am Alexis Omega**_

Zephyr looked at the last one, the grey.

"As for you, the one who saved my life when he was but an egg, I could not find a name. No matter how I tried, none seemed to fit. So while I was in town last, I went to see a mystic. She said that no names would fit, because you were to strong for them all. So she told me to sleep, and she would give me nightmares. When I woke, I was to call for you to comfort me. She told me that whatever name I called out, it was what I had wanted to call you all along.

Do you want to know the name I called out?"

The young grey, his eyes wide in amazement, nodded slowly.

"I woke screaming, and the name I yelled out was 'Sylexion'. She made me forget the nightmares, but your name was strong enough to banish the demons on my mind. So I ask you, Sylexion, will you take the name, and the name of your sire, Maru?"

The hatching nodded.

_**After what you went through, just to find my name, I will. I will be Sylexion Maru.**_

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><p>The truth about Sylexie's name: My friend named him, by hyjacking the comp while i wasnt looking X3 I like it tho, so when the renaming feature came in, I didnt rename him (besides adding Maru to the end, which WAS the surname of his (now unnamed) sire)<p> 


	6. Chapter 6: Almost Grown

Dragon cave is copyright TJ.

**Chapter 6**

**Almost Grown**

Looking up into the sky as she watched her almost grown grey fly, Zephyr couldn't keep the smirk off her face. As Sylexion wheeled, back-winged, turned on his wing-tip, and preformed a variety of other aerial tricks, Zephyr couldn't help but wonder how he had grown so fast.

It seemed like only yesterday that he had been just a little grey ball of scales that cuddled up to her at night, and now he was a sleek, almost fully grown grey dragon, and a very good flyer. He and Alexis were so competitive, both wanting to be the better flyer.

She looked down momentarily at what she was meant to be doing. The long piece of wood in her hands was slowly starting to look like a bow, and hopefully would work better than her other attempts. Until she had enough adult dragons to protect their cave and have more to go hunting, providing food was all up to her. And fish was starting to get old.

She looked over to the side as she heard the water being disturbed, and watched as Echo raised her elegant head out of the water. The water dragon was now fully grown, and had become quite good company.

"How are you Echo?"

_**Fine Zeph. How is the wood thing going this time?**_ The blue serpent tilted her head to get a better look at the wood in her mistress's hands.

"Better. I think I'm getting the hang of it." She smiled "How are the fish today?"

_**There are a large amount of trout in the lake, coming from one of the other rivers. I think it is almost spawning season, so we will have to switch to another species till they are finished.**_ Echo snorted. _**I dislike the taste of roe.**_

Zephyr giggled, and placed a hand on Echo's snout. "Tell me how you got so big again, when your so picky?"

Echo was big. She had grown from the size of a small snake to.. well, Zephyr had no idea how big. She was always underwater, and Zephyr hadn't seen her entire length for a while. But her head alone was over a meter and a half long.

_**I grew so big because all water dragons are big. **_Echo sounded very smug. _**Unlike humans, most dragons grow very large.**_

"Oh shush, I'm perfectly fine being small!" She gave Echo a playful whack on the snout, before going back to her bow.

_**Have any of the eggs hatched yet?**_ Echo laid her head down beside Zephyr.

"Yes, the orange one, the one that was giving off the odd aura, hatched yesterday. It is so cute, but its eyes give off that same glow as the egg did."

_**If there is a new hatchling, why are you out here?**_

"Because it keeps making the wood shavings float in the air. And pebbles too, it was getting a bit annoying."

Both looked up as Sylexion landed a few meters behind Zephyr and began walking to her rock.

_**I think the hatching is a Magi like that lazybones in the village is**_

Zephyr reached out and gave him a scratch under his chin.

"From its colour and annoying... talents..., I think so too Sylexie"

Zephyr was suddenly butted from the other side.

"Oh come on! I cant give everyone scratches at the same time Echo!"

She giggled and started scratching Echo above the eye ridge.

* * *

><p>That evening, Zephyr was leaned back against Sylexion, next to the nest, and covered in hatchlings yet again.<p>

As well as having one adult and two almost adult dragons in the cave with her, Zephyr had another grey hatchling, the size of a large dog, curled at her side, and the magi hatchling curled up on her lap.

In the nest, the glowing egg, which was covered in thin cracks, was casting a soft glow over them. The other eggs in the nest, a clean white egg, and two yellow and green striped eggs, were cuddled under blankets, keeping out the cool night air.

From what she had learned while studding to become a tender, she guessed, and hoped, that the white egg was that of a white dragon. They were healers, and that would come in handy. Zephyr was already covered in scrapes, cuts and bruises from caring for her hatchlings, and was sure that she had only gotten off lightly. The hatchlings didn't know their own strength, and didn't realise that their claws were so sharp. She could have gotten much, much worse.

The glowing egg was more of a mystery. She had no idea what kind of dragon would come out, but she was sure it would be a pretty one. The two others though... there were to many dragons that came from green eggs, or green and yellow eggs, so she had no idea.

As she nodded off to sleep, her eyes gazed over her growing clan of dragons. They would we her companions for the rest of her life, she was going to make sure they had the best lives possible. And maybe, they would one day become a well know, respected clan of dragons that everyone knew of. One day...

Zephyr was soon asleep, dreaming of things to come.

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><p>Short chapter, i know.<p>

Hope you enjoyed it tho.


	7. Chapter 7: Running out of room

Dragon cave is copyright TJ.

**Chapter 7**

**Running out of room**

Humming as she walked down the rocky slopes of the mountain she called home, Zephyr was pretty content. It was a nice summer day, her dragons were all occupying themselves, and she had time to relax.

She slowed down as she spotted what she had been looking for. It was a sweet smelling herb that grew amongst the rocks here, and made a very nice tea. She knelt down and began picking it. She quite liked tea, but with so many other things needing to be done, she had not been able to collect any more of the herbs needed to make it.

Over the last month, Sylexion had fully matured and taken up the role of protector and alpha, Alexis had began catching small birds and aerial mammals on the wing to feed the hatchlings, the grey hatchling grew wings, and was found to be female (and named Gildarex), as had the red hatchling (another female, and named Puku), the Magi hatchling was growing wings, and would be done in a few days, and the glowing egg had hatched into a purple hatchling, who mostly slept during the day, and played while they were trying to sleep.

Zephyr had also gotten another egg, one that was purple and grey. The white egg was starting to make noises, but the two green and yellow eggs were still solid and silent.

She stopped humming as her thoughts turned to their current state of accommodation. While the cave was dry, it was cold and windy. And it was getting crowded. With Rooreth and Sylexion (and the assorted hatchings and herself) on the floor, Alexis had taken to sleeping high up on a ledge that was too small for her. And with the hatchings growing every day, there would soon be no room. Echo had told her she didn't mind sharing her partially submerged cave behind the waterfall, but it was damp in there, and Zephyr knew that any non-water type dragon wouldn't like staying there too long.

Why had the last dragon clan that lived here have to seal the cave? It would have been much easier if they had the whole cave to use, instead of just the entrance.

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><p>That was what Sylexion and the hatchlings were working on today. When Zephyr had left, he had rounded up the growing hatchies, and asked them to help him dig.<p>

So they had gotten started at the wall, slowly and carefully removing the blockage. The little Magi was starting to come in handy, levitating the removed soil and rock, and putting it outside.

They wouldn't be able to remove the whole wall today, but over a few days, they would be able to break through. With him and the hatchlings digging, Rooreth gathering plant food, Alexis catching small prey, and Echo catching fish, they would be fine food wise, and the digging would be good training (as well as fun) for the little ones. And the look on Zeph's face when she saw what they were doing would be well worth the effort.

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><p>Realy, REALY short chapter, but this one shows the dragons DO have a mind of their own, and that Sylexie loves to please his tender *nawww*.<p> 


End file.
